November 26, 2010

Origin of the name " Great Britain"

To start with it was only « Britain ». This term was derived from the Latin « Brittania » meaning « lands of the Britons ». And it referred to all the British islands. Eventually after the 12th C. « Britain was used only for History purposes. From then on the term « Great Britain » started to be useful to make up the difference between « Brittany » in France which is less bigger than its neighbour « Brittain ».

Nowdays « Great Britain » and « United Kingdom » are the same. In actual fact the full name of this northern european country is « United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ».

(From Wilkipedia)

November 21, 2010

Diner Gala for the Playhouse last Friday night

It was hold at the Hart's Restaurant so right across from home. After the meal Richard Shelton sang for us in his own concept called "iCrooner" (see : http://www.richardshelton.co.uk/?p=252) I had choosen "Cry Me River" but it wasn't picked up. Richard Shelton was very relaxed and gave us a funny and excellent performance.

Games Day with Meetup

I joined a meetup event again. This afternoon it was the monthly Games Day hold in a pub. I spent 3 hours and a 1/2 playing Dominion with 4 other people. We in fact played 2 different versions of it. By the way that's were the name is from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion
The fantasy behind the game : http://www.kamikazegames.com/dominion/ And how it is played : http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36218/dominion
Good fun !

November 18, 2010

It's behind there guys ! Good luck !

The Group looking at the Treasure in atonishement

The Treasure - I added a Paris Metro Ticket

Meetup & Geocache

Last Sunday I joined Meetup for a Geocache which is a modern version of a treasure hunt. See : http://www.meetup.com/nottingham-social/calendar/15074195/?a=cv1c_grp&rv=cv1c
And : http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=debebe6f-05c5-4575-b733-7c26c73912ce
It was obviously as well a good excuse to go for a walk. It was a bit chilly but not too much. Nice group. At the end while 2 of us were still looking for the cache - and they actually did - I found a mobile phone on the floor. It was still in working order so one of my colleague phoned the contact called "Mum" and managed to give the phone back to its rightfull owner here & there !
We ended up the afternoon in a pub back in Town.

Nottingham University Grounds (4)

Nottingham University Grounds (3)

Nottingham University Grounds (2)

Nottingham University Grounds (1)

Nottingham University Grounds : the Millenium Garden

Poppy's Day

See : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day
It's interesting to say that probably about 85 % of people in the streets are wearing a red poppy whatever their age. I've only seen one person with a white one and that was my friend J.

November 09, 2010

Bonfire Night

Last Saturday I was invited at a Bonfire Night Party at J's friends. (See explanation on : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night). J & I we decided to burn NS. He was in good company : TB was there too !

November 03, 2010

Week end in Manchester (3)

Sunday I went round Salford. Salford is officially part of Manchester but has got its own identity. hence I do apologize if I have labelled photos "Salford" which might be outside Salford... There is a museum which opened last March : People's History Museum. See : http://www.phm.org.uk/. I saw their temporary exhibition on the death and the working class. Quite interesting. At some point there was like a jigsaw with several words & sentences to choose from to write down one's epitaph. Mine happened to be : "get sweet chocolate" (I like it very dark actually).
Manchester still have about 4 different railway station still in use. (4th one being Salford Central) From Nottingham you can end up at Piccadilly, Oxford Road or Victoria. I arrived at Piccadilly and on the way out I had to catch a train at Oxford Road. Although I didn't realise that it then stops at Victoria ! So I had lunch at the Malmaison Brasserie (quite nice) near Victoria and walked to Oxford Road.

Salford (4)

Salford (3)

Salford (2)

Salford (1)

Manchester at random

November 02, 2010

Week end in Manchester (2)

Saturday afternoon I explored Oxford Road neighborhood. I saw an exhibition at the CUBE Gallery. It displayed different projects by designer. Among the highlights : reinvention of the toaster, belt to experiment menstruation 5 times a day, old folks urine samples to study how to fight diabetes. I then add a piece of cake and a tea at "pure space", a bar with a roof terrace without a view as such.
I had my evening meal at the River Restaurant in the Lowry Hotel. It's by the canal in Salford. There is a spectacular bridge, Trinity Bridge opposite. Otherwise the view is quite grim.